Old Growth

This Douglas-fir predates fire suppression. That makes it at least 100 years old, probably more like 150-200. It is living on the edge of a oakwoodland – prairie where thousands of seedling Douglas-fir are growing underneath the the white oak canopy. In time, not much time, the fir trees will top the oaks, forcing them to die out underneath a new forest of conifer. This is new to this region, where for thousands of years fire has prevented climax species such as Douglas-fir from dominating the forest. In the absence of fire however it thrives and remarkably quickly replaces oak as the dominate tree species.